Obama offers $600M for job training

President praises community college lessons in visit to Pa.

Vice President Joe Biden applauds as President Obama speaks to about 300 at Allegheny County Community College in Oakdale, Pa. Mr. Obama said on Wednesday that he and Mr. Biden were on ‘a little road trip.’

OAKDALE, Pa. — President Obama held up the Allegheny County Community College’s job-training programs as a national model on Wednesday as he joined Vice President Joe Biden to press the need to match education to the demands of the economy.

Their visit to the college’s West Hills Center brought the rare sight of Air Force One and Air Force Two parked next to one another as, in the President’s words, they “took a little road trip,’’ to describe plans to refocus $600 million in federal funds on community college programs tailored to the specific needs of a region’s employers.

“We’re here because [the community college] is an outstanding model of the kind of job-driven training we’re trying to encourage all over the country,’’ Mr. Obama told an invited crowd of about 300 people.

Flanked by U.S. and Pennsylvania flags and standing before a banner proclaiming, “OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL,” he told the crowd gathered in the school’s automotive shop that “what we want to do is replicate your model across the country. You’re doing something right that is making a difference in people’s lives.’’

Moments earlier, Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden, and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker had watched a demonstration of the work of some of the students at the center.

After listening to one student explain an electronic-control system, Mr. Obama said, “This is clearly an A student. She sounds like the teacher.’’

He quizzed the students on employment pathways opened by their curriculum, and said, “We’re just so proud of what you guys are doing. I can tell any employer will be lucky to have you.’’

The appearance was designed to highlight a $500 million grant program for community college efforts to focus on job training. The President also described a related plan to target $100 million for competitive grants to encourage apprenticeship programs.

The initiatives were a sequel to a pledge in his State of the Union address, in which he praised such business training partnerships and charged Mr. Biden with the task of assessing the effectiveness of the broad array of current federal work force training programs.

Mr. Obama noted that the programs, which will refocus funds already in the federal budget pipeline, did not depend on new action by Congress. It was one more example of the more modest initiatives the administration has turned to as a gridlocked Washington hobbles progress on more sweeping goals.

The last time the President came to the region, visiting a U.S. Steel plant in January, Mr. Obama had offered another program that could go forward without congressional action: a retirement savings plan for workers of modest means.

In an emailed statement, Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio derided the presidential trip, along with the directive to Mr. Biden to evaluate existing jobs programs. He contended that the Government Accounting Office had conducted a similar inventory while arguing that the President could better serve the job-training needs by persuading a Democratic-controlled Senate to pass the Skills Act, a jobs measure supported by House Republicans.

In a briefing on Tuesday, White House officials had said that the community college was selected to host the event in part to recognize its industrial maintenance program that trains students to repair and make parts for complex machinery, a specialty known as mechatronics. After his tour of the training facility, Mr. Obama confessed the term was a new one to him.

“Sounds like something Godzilla would be fighting,” he joked.

After their separate arrivals at Pittsburgh International Airport, Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden were greeted by Sen. Bob Casey, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, and other dignitaries.

As they waited for the President to emerge from Air Force One, Mr. Biden served as amateur photographer, taking a group portrait of some of the local officials.

Later, as he introduced the President at the community college, Mr. Biden predicted a rebirth of American manufacturing.

“But the companies, the education system, every level of government — we need to rethink how we’re helping move folks into these new opportunities,” Mr Biden said. “It’s a different skill set that’s going to be required ... That’s why the President and I are here today.”

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. James O’Toole is politics editor for the Post-Gazette.

Contact James O’Toole at: jotoole@post-gazette.com.